The Visitor
by MusicFlows
Summary: Azuma remains devoted to Kahoko even as she waits for another...until one day his constancy is rewarded. Set in the future, while both are in University. One-shot. Warning: Explicit material!


**Author's Note:** I hope you like this. I'm especially fond of this story. As I began writing one late night, the story flowed through me, practically writing itself. Don't you love it when it's that effortless? Can't say that about everything...Enjoy!

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**The Visitor**

"Are you sure you'll be OK, Kaho-chan?" Shiori looked worried, as if she was considering staying home to look after her friend.

"I'll be fine. I'm going to be here all day, getting lots of rest and doing a bit of practicing. Now go! You don't want to be late for class."

"OK…" Her friend was hesitant. "…but call me if you need anything."

"I will. Have a good day."

She closed the door after her friend and gingerly made her way to the kitchen, being careful not to put much weight on her right foot. Nao emerged from her room as Kahoko was putting tea leaves in the pot. "There's hot water if you want to make coffee, Nao."

"No thanks. I'm leaving now. I have to get to school for 9:00." The redhead's longtime friend pulled her jacket on. "How's the ankle?"

"A bit better, I guess."

"Let me see." Kahoko put her foot on the kitchen chair for inspection. Nao was in pre-med, which came in handy for the other two girls.

"It's still swollen though, isn't it? Remember what I said. Ice it, stay off it, and elevate it. Did you take the anti-inflammatory?"

"I'm about to now, with breakfast."

"OK. Phone if you need anything. Do you need me to do anything for you at school?"

"No, I'm getting a classmate to lend me her notes later."

"All right. Take care of yourself."

"Thanks Nao. See you later."

* * * * *

Kahoko hopped to the kitchen, thinking how lucky she was to have such great roommates. Last year when she and Nao realized they were both going to school in Tokyo, they looked into renting an apartment unit together. They answered Shiori's advertisement for her flat. It had worked out well for all of them. The three girls got along well and frequently spent time together; cooking meals together, having friends over, going out for karaoke. Their home and their friendship were a haven from the demands of school and city life.

Kahoko was standing in the kitchen wondering what to eat, when the door buzzer rang. "Who on earth could that be so early in the morning?" Picking up the phone to find out who was in the lobby, she answered "Hello?"

A velvety male voice answered "Hello Kahoko."

"Azuma!" She called him that instead of his family name because he insisted on it. It had been this way almost since the beginning of their acquaintance, and she now couldn't imagine calling him anything else.

In a couple minutes there he was at her door, looking as strikingly handsome as ever in a deep grey velour jacket, aubergine shirt and grey slacks.

"Good morning" she smiled. Her heart quickened as it always did when she saw him.

"Good morning. I thought you might like some company today." He looked her up and down, taking in the sight of her peach pajamas and flyaway hair.

"Come in." She hopped backward to let him pass. He looked far too elegant for their humble apartment.

"I brought you some onigiri so you don't have to cook. And these…" He was carrying a large bouquet of pink lilies and white roses. He set them on the hall table and looked down at the foot she was favoring.

With his hands on his hips, he shook his head in derision. "Clumsy girl. Let's get you off your feet." He pulled one of her arms around his waist as he slid his arm around her. She could have easily gotten around on her own, but when dealing with Azuma it was easier not to argue. They made their way to the sofa in the living room, where he lowered her near the arm rest. He kissed the top of her head before heading back to the kitchen.

"I'll put the flowers in a vase. I'll be right back."

Hmm, he's more affectionate than usual, she thought. "Thanks. The flowers are lovely…Will you bring me my tea and pills when you come? Get a cup for yourself too...I assume it was Kazuki who told you about my ankle?" Yesterday after her fall she was bored with having to stay off her feet, so she called her trumpeter friend to catch up on his news. She was still in touch with most of her friends from Seiso, although most of the contact was by electronic means.

"It was." Azuma answered from the kitchen. He came back right away with a tray holding their tea, onigiri and the bottle of anti-inflammatory pills…setting them on the coffee table in front of her.

"He's worried about you, thinks you should be more careful." He returned to the kitchen to arrange the flowers in the crystal vase that he had brought.

"I know. I slept through the alarm and had to sprint to school. The next thing I knew, my foot got caught on the curb and I hit the ground.

"It's a good thing that you landed on grass instead of pavement. Finding a soft place to land is quite an achievement in this city."

She reflected on Azuma's presence in her life. Every couple months he would make an appearance, usually to take her out for a meal or to some artistic event. He too lived in Tokyo because of business school. Except for the obligatory teasing, he was pretty quiet and almost melancholy with her. She guessed that his life held little happiness. He talked as little as possible about himself and seemed to spend most of their time together watching her. She had come to accept this strange behavior as one of his quirks. She enjoyed his company nonetheless and looked forward to his visits. He was intelligent, learned, a keen observer, worldly, cultured. No matter what his mood, he was stimulating to be with. Her life was the richer for having him in it.

He emerged from the kitchen with a perfect flower arrangement, setting it down in the middle of the table. As he sat on the sofa she was slipping her foot through a special kind of shaped ice pack designed for swollen ankles.

"That looks…useful" he said, with an inflection in his voice that inferred that it was ugly object.

"Yes, Nao picked it up for me last night."

"You're supposed to elevate it, right?" He reached for her legs and carefully lifted them onto his lap, with one hand against her socked feet, resting his other hand across her shins.

"You…uh, fine…So how are things, Azuma?"

"School is the same; easy, boring mostly…Miyabi says Hi. She talked Grandmother into letting her take that fashion design course, and she's totally in her element now." He turned to look at her. "What's new with you?"

"My courses are going well…More and more, I'm feeling that I did the right thing going into music pedagogy. Being in the educational field, I'll be involved with music but without the high pressure of being in the performance arena. I can still perform whenever I want, but on my own terms."

"I always thought that sounded perfect for you…Speaking of the performance arena; I heard that Tsukimori got engaged this week?" He tried to sound casual. The violin prodigy's engagement was actually the reason he rushed over to see her. He wanted to see her reaction to the news.

"Yes, he's engaged to a pianist that he had gotten close to this year."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I'm fine with it, actually. His life is over there now and mine is here. It's been a long, long time since we've seen each other."

Kazuki had told him that Kahoko seemed OK with it, but Azuma had to find out for himself.

His voice lowered "But you were in love with him."

"I was. But we've been steadily drifting apart. He's not the greatest communicator, and it's difficult to maintain a long distance relationship even in the best of circumstances. I made my peace with the situation some time ago. When he called to tell me about the engagement I wasn't actually that surprised. I really do wish him well."

He gazed at her while he rubbed her foot with his thumb. Warmth was building in his heart. He was beginning to hope, which was a strange sensation for him.

She thought about how much had changed for her since their days at school. She had grown more confident and had gained some perspective. In fact, closing the chapter on Len made her feel like clearing the air about another matter, one that had been keeping her in limbo. It felt like the timing was right.

Taking a deep breath, she began "You know, back in school there was actually someone else that I loved more than Len. Someone I've never gotten over."

His eyes widened in total shock. "Someone from Seiso?"

What fresh torture was this?! He had come today praying that there was a chance for him now that Tsukimori was out of the picture, and suddenly she's saying there's someone else that she loves even more? His mind was quickly racing through all the probable suspects: Tsuchiura, Hihara, Kaji, Shimizu, someone he didn't even know…?

"Yes, he was a music student. But he and I were so different, and he didn't seem to like me all that much." She sighed. "All this time I've wished that we were together. I still see him from time to time and lately I've been thinking that maybe I should tell him how I feel."

He was so upset by her words that he missed the gentle truth in her eyes as she looked straight at him.

"Who is this guy?" he ground out between clenched teeth.

She waited silently to see if he would figure it out, but the wait seemed to upset him more. "Tell me!" he glared.

"It's you, Azuma." she said in a soft voice.

His face went white as despair and hope warred within him. He strangled the words "Don't toy with me, Kahoko. I'm not in the mood." He looked angry, and also like he might cry.

"It was you that I always wanted." She paused for a moment to make sure he was hearing her. "You flirted with me and it's no surprise that I fell for you. I always felt so alive around you. I wanted to be with you in spite of your insincerity. But you seemed to have such contempt for me, and I knew that a plain girl like me could never be good enough…So I gave up…But since school you've been showing up every few weeks. Why would you keep checking in on me if you didn't like me at all? And here you are once again, this time holding my feet" she smiled.

He eased himself out from under her legs and went to kneel down on the rug next to her place on the sofa. He grabbed her shoulders.

"Kahoko, please be serious. Are you saying…" his voice lowered to a ragged whisper "that you _want me_?" His face was a study of defensiveness, but she saw yearning there too.

"Do you want me, Azuma?"

He closed his eyes, reviewing the passing of month after painful month, knowing that she was in love with someone else and that she would never love him back.

With remembered bitterness, he said quietly "I've always wanted you. I've always…loved you." The agonizing crawl of time had given him the courage to be honest about his feelings.

He opened his eyes to see the beautiful smile on her face. Light shone from her eyes. "You love me?"

His face began to soften with relief, but after all these years he needed to hear the words. "_Do you love me_, Kahoko?"

"Yes, I love you, Azuma."

He stared at her, mouth agape, stunned that he finally had his heart's truest wish. He could scarcely believe that she was touching his cheek, looking lovingly at him. He leaned forward to taste her lips, kissing her tenderly. He hugged her tightly and buried his face in her neck. He couldn't believe he was holding her. "You love me." he confirmed to himself.

He heard her quiet voice. "Azuma, if you loved me why did you treat me badly back then?"

Sheepish was an expression she had never before seen on his face. "Everyone knew you had a thing for Tsukimori. I got as close to you as I could, but I couldn't help but punish you for wanting him."

She clarified "But Len was mostly someone that I admired. It wasn't until I gave up on you that I transferred those feelings to him. From one unavailable guy to another, as it turns out."

"Unavailable? How could you have no idea that I was into you? I used any excuse to get close to you, to get my hands on you."

"But you kept saying cruel things to me."

He was shaking his head in disbelief. "How could we have gotten it so wrong?" Something inside him asserted that immediate action was needed. He stood up, put his arms under her and lifted her off the sofa.

"Azuma! What are you doing?"

"We're going to make up for lost time, Kahoko. I'm going to make love to you." He had to make this real, right now. He had to seal the deal before he awoke to discover that he was dreaming. He strode to the bedroom with her in his arms and gently laid her on the bed.

She watched him close the door and remove his jacket to hang it on the back of a chair. "Do you think this a good idea? We haven't even figured out if it will work for us to be together. Your family..."

He spun around and met her gaze with firm resolve in his eyes. "I'm not going to let anyone or anything get between us. I'm never letting you go, so you can stop considering that as even a remote possibility. And I _am_ going to make love to you right now. I've waited three years for you and I'm not wasting another minute."

"But, my ankle…"

His voice softened as he approached the bed. "I'll be careful, I promise."

He lay down next to her, still wearing his clothes. Carefully, he wrapped as much of his body around hers as he could, savoring the moment.

She had haunted his dreams for months on end. The visions had run the gamut: from taking her by force because she didn't want him, to simply touching her, imagining that he could make her happy, the everyday bliss of being married to her, to the bitterness of not having her. His daily existence without her was bleak, which was why he had to see her every few weeks in spite of the pain of knowing that her heart was elsewhere. She had been his beacon and his torture.

And now here she was suddenly in his arms, with all of the misunderstandings behind them. He looked at her lovely face, drinking in every detail now that he was allowed to hold her. He was going to take care of her, make her happy. Now his life had purpose.

She was looking into the amazing eyes that she had seen many times before. She had never seen love in them, until now. To be the object of Yunoki Azuma's loving gaze was an overwhelming experience. "There's still a lot we don't know about each other, isn't there Azuma?" she asked breathlessly.

"We've got lots of time for that." He said quietly. "In the meantime, the most important thing to know is that we're going to be together from now on."

He found one of her hands and kissed each finger tenderly. He brushed his lips across the soft skin on the back of her hand, and across her palm. His attention turned to her face. He lovingly kissed every feature of her visage, alighting ultimately on her mouth.

The kiss began with reverent feather-light brushes of skin on skin…becoming warm and wet, then probing and insistent, finally urgent. In the curtain of his lavender hair, they gave each other more and more of the love that had waited years to flow.

She was amazed at how good he felt. All those times that he had flirted with her in school had made her fantasize about what it would have been like if she had let him have his way. Over and over she wondered; what if she had let him kiss her…touch her as he wished? She repeatedly attempted to visualize it. But Azuma in the flesh made her fantasies pale in comparison. He had a gift for sensuality, and his ardor made being with him a heady experience.

"I think it's time for the clothes to come off." he murmured against her neck. In no time at all he had removed his clothing and hers, and they were drinking in the sight of each other's naked bodies. He covered hers with his and their hands began exploring.

What a precious gift she was; all soft curves and silky skin. He ran his hands over every inch of her, his lips following in their wake. He loved the sounds she made and the way she arched as he touched her.

She shouldn't be this surprised at how beautiful his body was. His pale skin clothed lean muscle and perfect proportions. He took her breath away, especially when he pinned her with one of his intense looks that said 'I want you and I'm going to have you.'

He left her for a moment to remove a small square package from the breast pocket of his jacket. She watched him as he tore it open and began rolling a condom on. She was surprised that he had brought one. "Do you always have one of those with you?"

"Only when I know I'm going to see you." he said, returning to enclose her in his embrace.

She traced his cheekbone as she quizzed him. "Oh…so did you have one in your pocket two months ago when you took me out for dinner?"

"Yes. I had one with me every time I saw you." She digested the implications of that statement. All this time he had been hoping and waiting for her, even while he thought she was in love with another. It made her want to cry at the sheer poignancy of his actions.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sensation of her new lover's mouth on her breast, followed soon after by one of his fingers that undulated down her belly and lower, to burrow inside her. She gasped as he slid in and out, in and out, soon adding a 2nd finger and thumb to the exercise. She wondered how he got so damn good at this, because he certainly knew how to make her body sing. When her moans rose in pitch, he removed his fingers and quickly positioned his sex between her legs. Slowly he pushed into her, groaning as her hot passage enclosed him. When he was all the way inside her, he asked "Are you comfortable, my Love?"

"Yes" she replied breathlessly. The word 'comfortable' was feeble in expressing the pleasure she was feeling. 'He's really inside me' she thought. 'We are finally this close.'

He watched her face as he began sliding in and out. With each long thrust of his, she felt an imperative wave of sensation building. The sight of her lover arching into her, his hair flowing back and forth with his exertions, was enough to bring her to the brink. All it took was his hand running down her thigh and she tensed as she was seized by a fiery contraction. Azuma let loose his own release with shuddering thrusts, announcing his discharge with loud groans. After the final diminishing convulsions he dipped his face down to kiss her briefly before collapsing at her side. Draping an arm and a leg possessively over her, he lovingly pulled the sheet up over their bodies.

He sighed with delicious satisfaction and offered "Just give me 15 minutes and we can do it again."

She laughed. So this is the way it was going to be.

**The End**


End file.
